#110: Grace + Your Body: Trusting God through physical suffering with Niki Hardy

Your body is pretty incredible, but what about when your body feels like it doesn’t like you or is actively working against you? How do you give your body grace when it feels like it’s betraying you? How can you be a grace-giver to your flesh, blood, marrow, tendons, and cells when you feel as if you’re surviving, not thriving?

I’m so thankful writer + cancer survivor Niki Hardy offered her Jesus-centered wisdom in Episode #110 of the Grace In Real Life podcast.

In our conversation, Niki shares:

small steps to build your trust in God,
practical ideas to help a friend who’s battling a disease
and the four voices in your head + the one you should listen to the most.

Key Quotes

“God didn’t promise us perfect bodies, whether it’s stretch marks, wrinkles or cancer.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“If I was going to trust God when things were hard, I had to plan to do it and learn to do it while things were easy because trusting God doesn’t come naturally.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“God so wants to meet us in our pain and suffering. He’s not aloof. He’s not off helping someone more spiritual than us. He’s not angry.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“God is desperate to minister to us, to be present to us, to give us His peace and His hope and His comfort.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“God is such a gentleman that He will rarely barge in and take over. Our responsibility is to invite Him in.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“We can offer our bodies grace by offering ourselves grace and not beating ourselves up.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“Sit in the mess with them, in the pain, and not try to fix it or encourage them.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“Life doesn’t have to be pain-free to be full.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hard
“Right in the middle of the mess, we can still live and experience the full, abundant life Jesus came to give us.”
“An abundant life isn’t about health and wealth and how eas life is, but its about how intimate and precious and beautiful and how connected we feel with each other and with God and in His presence.” – Author + cancer thriver Niki Hardy

Mentioned in the Podcast

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Martin Seligman
Niki Hardy’s Breathe Again
Marissa Henley’s Loving Your Friends through Cancer
C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia
#104: Skill Set: Practicing faith + building trust in the Lord with Carrie Rogers

About Niki Hardy

Niki is an author, speaker, and podcaster. More importantly, she’s a thriver, who’s all about helping you squeeze the juice out of life no matter what gets thrown your way.

She’d rather run trails with her dogs than get her nails done, is sarcastic, mildly passive-aggressive, and prone to hissy fits when things get bad, but she’s thriving a little bit more each day and that’s her prayer for you too.